5 Questions with Nina Walker
A favorite find this year has been Nina Walker’s Blood Casino. The second book in the series, Cruel Stakes comes out July 8. We caught up with Nina to ask her a few questions!
1. I'm most excited for your upcoming Cruel Stakes, Book 2 in the Vampires & Vices series. Vampires, running just about every human vice, in an urban fantasy set in New Orleans!? What was your favorite part of this book to write?
This series is the one I’ve been dying to write for ages, so I’m extra excited that I’ve finally had the time and space to do it. I actually saved this premise until I felt I was a better writer and had more books under my belt. That’s how much the story idea meant to me. The idea came in a dream years ago. In the dream I was looking for my mother and found her at a Texas Hold’em table while in the middle of donating blood—just like in the opening scene of Blood Casino.
Cruel Stakes has been harder to write, but hear me out. The book is great and the story really takes off, but I’ve been dealing with painful health challenges this year that have made the physical act of writing harder. I’m working though it, but it’s been an eye-opener.
So my favorite part of writing Cruel Stakes has been anytime I’ve been able to have a sense of accomplishment with it. On a good day that was writing for a few hours and on a bad day that was thinking about the plot or even just a scene. Sometimes we need to let ourselves appreciate little milestones and love ourselves despite our limitations. I’ve learned that with this book especially.
2. Your most recent release Night of the Wolf Moon is a collaboration with Kimberly Loth, what is the co-author writing process like?
Kimberly is an amazing co-author. We met a couple years before writing together and have become good friends, plus we have a lot of the same goals and enjoy the same genres. We decided to write together last summer and the process has been so smooth and wonderful. I would write with her any day, I’m telling you she’s a rock for me.
As far as the drafting process goes, she writes three days a week and I write three days. And then we both edit each other as we go before doing more edits with the professionals. It’s made the books incredibly strong because Kim is highly skilled with plot and I’m a pro with writing emotion—add in our other strengths—and you have yourselves a hit.
Go read that book if you haven’t already. You’ll love it!
3. It all started with Prism and The Color Alchemist series. The magic system in that story is so interesting, what drew you toward color based magic?
I’m a nerd for the metaphysical stuff, so I already knew all about chakras and crystals and all that “woowoo” kind of stuff. I was a huge book nerd growing up but I didn’t plan on ever being an author. I actually wanted to be an actress. I went so far as to move to LA after college and pursue film and television. Well, it turned out that I hated LA and the whole film scene. It wasn’t for me. I’m way too sensitive, empathic, emotional, my standards are high, and I need creative control. So one night (after I knew it wasn’t going to work out) I said a prayer and asked God to give me another dream instead of acting. He quite literally did give me a dream in both senses of the word.
I dreamed about a girl sitting in a meadow and using the colors from the flowers to create magic. Soon after I moved back to Utah and turned that inspiration into a bestselling four book series and the rest is history.
Turns out writing is a much better fit for me than acting. Creating characters was my favorite part and I still get to do that.
4. What is your favorite National Park in Utah and why?
Zion National Park. I absolutely love all the parks here and the outdoor recreation. Utah is a magical place and I could stay here my entire life. Right now I’m an hour from Zion and it means so much to me. Not only is it somewhere my husband and I go enjoy something stunning with our kids, it’s representative of a dream come true for me. I’ve wanted to live down here in the lush desert of southern Utah for years and now I do.
5. For the aspiring writers out there, what has been your biggest learning in the book marketing department since becoming a self-published author?
Be coachable and stay positive.
The marketing is hard work and it’s always changing. I’ve allowed myself to get jaded by it over the years and I don’t want that to happen to newbies because it taints the work and creates sales problems. If you know that it’s important to stay open to changing your strategies as needed and you can be positive during the downs, you’re already so far ahead of most indie authors. A lot of us get set in our ways and then we get upset when an algorithm changes and we have to relearn everything. So my advice is to learn from my past mistakes and be flexible with your marketing and positive no matter what the numbers do.
Reviews:
